Old Monovians; Who's Who

Helen Conway is the author of "Sir John Pritchard His Life in Music"We are very grateful to her for allowing us to include the following extracts from her book relating to Sir John's early life before and after his attendance at Monoux.

September 1989. Seeing the conductor arrive, the concierge hurried over. 'Good morning Sir John. I saw you on television. The Last Night of the Proms was wonderful.' Elated, Sir John Pritchard CBE walked into Claridges smiling.Recognition. At last! Recognition by the British public had always eluded him. In a career spanning nearly fifty years, he was respected and acclaimed abroad and deeply loved by the musicians with whom he worked but his name had never achieved the instant recognition in Britain that others, of arguably lesser ability, received. Fellow professionals are not starry-eyed individuals, yet many use the word 'genius' to describe Sir John Pritchard. This is the remarkable story of a boy who grew up in poverty in London and became an internationally respected artist. His parents had concentrated all their attention from his birth towards a total immersion in music. There was never any question that he would be anything other than a musician.